View Full Version : Film 4 - What went wrong
thecuttingedge
10-03-2008, 8:35 PM
I may be alone in this and I may be incorrect in my thinking but is it me or has Film 4 gone downhill recently? When it was on Sky and when it First came to Freeview it was really good, I seem to remember a day of Hayao Miyazki being shown some time ago but these days it seems to be all repeats of films and whilst I have nothing against them Main Stream movies when Film Four used to live up to the title of "great films you know, great films you don't and a hellova lot more" but these days it seems to be going the way of Sky Movies.
Am I alone in this thinking or have I kind of got a point?
TCE
mooperman
10-03-2008, 9:38 PM
i agree entirely, it seems theyve gone from showing some great movies to putting some right pish on.... it used to be a reguler viewing from me but these days i skip past it to TCM, who incidentally have also started faltering a little....:thumbsdow
Perhaps they have run out of films?
Perhaps there is some contractual thing were they can't show certain 'good' films again?
Perhaps since it went 'free to air' it hasn't the money to buy rights to better films?
aprout
11-03-2008, 7:18 AM
Indeed. Since they went freeview, they have to rely on advertiser's money rather than subscriber's fees, therefore, more mainstream stuff - especially in the primetime slots.
They do still show the occasional gem, but it's usually buried in the early hours.
sukhy5
11-03-2008, 7:34 AM
Aye. I remember the good ole days. They used to show films that other channels would never dare broadcast.
In the realm of the senses :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
P.S
Fair play to Sky for showing Baise-Moi though.
PoochJD
11-03-2008, 9:35 AM
Hi,
I agree with all of the above. Film4 went downhill, the day it upped its subscription price from £5-99 a month to £7-99, and dropped "Film4 World" and "Film4 Extreme" from the channel choice. :mad:
As others have said, in the early days, you got some genuinely interesting, baroque and controversial programming, like "Benny's Video", "Bad Boy Bubby", "The Werckmeister Harmonies", and seasons by specific directors or themes. Nowadays, it's the same old, same old, and stuff that's been shown so often, that it's not even worth watching for free. :(
Still, their is the occasional gem, but it's now so similar to any other film channel, that there's no point in it being free, because it's so terrible. :rolleyes:
Pooch
nwgarratt
11-03-2008, 11:46 AM
I was very happy with it being on Freeview as it is all I have. I watched it all the time when it started but I hardly watch it now. They like to keep repeating the same films over and over (same with Five, ITV 2, BBC 3 and so on). I was also annoyed that they remove Film 4+1.
At least they are showing the Original Aspect Ratio.
Pincho Paxton
11-03-2008, 12:35 PM
Most channels are currently in repeat mode........not yearly, not monthly, but currently daily repeats of movies.
IAN P
11-03-2008, 12:52 PM
The only decent thing,at least they show them in their correct ratio,some are even 2.35.1.Even channel 4 in the afternoon.I can just imagine the comments:rotfl:
vinvader
11-03-2008, 7:17 PM
I always used to want Film4 they were always showing these great films. Then it came to freeview, great I thought. Erm I don't think I watched it once, all the good stuff they show I've already got. :thumbsdow
LFC_SL
11-03-2008, 9:40 PM
My Best Friend's Wedding seems to be a constant feature of the Film4 schedules :god:
Mr-Bananas
11-03-2008, 9:43 PM
I have no complaints. There are normally a couple of films that I would want to watch per week, and its free.
Can't really see the problem.
brian s
11-03-2008, 10:04 PM
On Freeview this one's tucked out of the way but it's pretty good overall. On the bad side there's ads. Other than that we have logo free films mainly in the correct ratio.
Terrible.
Bri
IAN P
11-03-2008, 10:14 PM
On Freeview this one's tucked out of the way but it's pretty good overall. On the bad side there's ads. Other than that we have logo free films mainly in the correct ratio.
Terrible.
Bri
Thats whats great about hdd recorders,snip the ads,and away you go,cant really see the join;)
brian s
11-03-2008, 10:17 PM
Thats whats great about hdd recorders,snip the ads,and away you go,cant really see the join;)
I do that every now and again but I tend to whizz throuhg the ads.
Cheers
Bri
IAN P
11-03-2008, 10:32 PM
Well im in the habit of putting them on disc,when theyre edited,so i can watch them at a time that suits me:)
brian s
11-03-2008, 11:24 PM
Well im in the habit of putting them on disc,when theyre edited,so i can watch them at a time that suits me:)
Yes that works too but a loads more work.
Regards
Bri